Devil's Advocate: Customer Rage Management

In his latest challenge to assumed ebusiness wisdom, Martin Brampton, director at consultancy Black Sheep Research, picks on the shortcomings of CRM projects. Do they really get his goat, or is he merely playing devil's advocate?

As consumers, we are only small cogs to the big wheels of business. But do we really have to be treated so badly? As far as I know, call centre rage has stopped short of murder. It is accepted, though, as a well-known feature of contemporary life.

What is a typical scenario? First, we ring an 0870 telephone number - a national rate number that provides a revenue stream to its owner. Then we have to negotiate a series of more or less relevant menus, presented with forced cheerfulness by the disembodied automated attendant. Somehow the next stage is always the same electronic announcement: "All our agents are busy answering other calls. You are held in a queue."

Finally, after a seemingly interminable wait, it may be possible to speak to a real human being. By this time, frustration is rising and all too often, the call centre operator has an inadequate range of options to deal effectively with the problem that triggered our call. The result - call centre rage.

This all means I wasn't overjoyed recently to hear GNER is investing in CRM technology instead of buying better trains. Traveling regularly between Yorkshire and London, on the troubled East Coast line, I have every reason to care about the service provided by GNER. I have to admit the company has been unlucky. It was not GNER's fault that Railtrack let lines go to rack and ruin, nor were they responsible for a Land Rover on the main line. They are hampered by having only a two-year extension to their tenure of the East Coast line.

All the same, I have yet to be persuaded that GNER is truly committed to positive relationships with its customers. I wonder how they decided passengers want the kind of treatment they currently receive? Train crews now rejoice in grandiloquent titles and at regular intervals make flowery announcements assuring passengers how pleased the company is to be carrying them. Usually, they conclude by claiming that if they can be of help in any way, you only have to ask. This kind offer is somewhat undermined by the fact that the location of the speaker is never disclosed. And attempts to take up the offer are liable to be met with short shrift. It is all too superficial.

Don't misunderstand. Customer relationship management is a brilliant idea. At its best, it is a conceptual shift. It moves away from creating products in isolation to driving a company forward by reference to the relationship it has with customers. It raises questions about what the company can best serve to its customers, whom could it acquire as customers and how best might it serve its customers.

Of course what the customer receives must relate to its cost. But long-term success comes from optimising the customer relationship within economic constraints. When we look at customer rage and failed CRM projects we have to wonder if the message is getting home.

The move to CRM has been significantly driven by IT. Systems like data warehousing, online analytical processing and sales force automation enable the conceptual shift. All of these can be used to create advantage, but their deployment needs skill and imagination. Pure cost cutting has all too often driven call centres. Their position in the management structure has not been properly planned, and so they are incapable of resolving the problems that arise.

In fact, technology is there to help solve these problems. Astute companies are deploying systems that track what is happening in the call centre, highlighting problems and illustrating the situation with powerful graphics. When the information from customers is seen as a valuable source of information rather than a mere nuisance, significant progress can be made. Perhaps I should be guardedly optimistic about GNER's commitment to CRM.

** Martin Brampton is a director and founder of Black Sheep Research (http://www.black-sheep-research.co.uk ), an independent consultancy providing research, writing and speaking services on a wide range of business and technology subjects. Martin was previously a director at Bloor Research, and has worked with IT as a user and analyst for over 20 years. He is a frequent contributor to silicon.com's weekly Behind the Headlines TV programme and can be contacted at silicon@black-sheep-research.co.uk.